Am I wasting time washing dishes before I put them in the dishwasher?

No if you have stuck on stuff, it is a Dishwasher not a Dish Scrubber that and as you said you don't want unwanted chunks of food clogging the drain

Well, I RINSE my dishes, (and let them soak a few minutes if they're dry and crusty..) but I don't really scrub them or use soap before I put them in the dishwasher. It really depends on how good your washer is. Some are really lame. Mine is pretty good, but some food is really stubborn. If there's, like, dried cheese on something, I don't even bother with the dishwasher, I just soak it and wash it by hand. And if some dishes don't get completely clean in the washer, I just wash them afterwards. It's less work than washing them before.

I have a friend who's totally paranoid and won't use dishes that haven't gone through the washer, but just a decade or two ago, EVERYONE did it by hand, so I really don't think it's worth being paranoid over. (If you are.. I don't know..)

The best thing to do is rinse them off before the food dries on and then just load them in the dishwasher when ready. If you can't get to them right away,then rinse with hot water, or soak them for a few minutes before loading.

Dishwashers are designed to grind up food particles. Sometimes though, when it's a really starchy food that has fossilized on the plate, it doesn't all come off, so you may have to wash it again, by hand.

Most of the time however, the food will be washed off and pulverized and rinsed away.

Good luck!

most dishwashers have soil sensors on them, if the sensors do not detect food particles it thinks the dishes are clean, therefore it will not heat water up to the correct temp, and the your dishes will not get hot enough to dry, --dishes absorb heat from water to dry, just as you would rinse a glass off with hot water and it dries itself in minutes, thats why plastic will not dry in dishwasher, because it cant absorb heat like ceramic or metal, and why manufactors reccomend jet dry to shed as much water as possible

It depends on your dishwasher. But you should always rinse before you put your dishes in. You shouldn't have to wash them.

Yes, you are wasting time. Just be sure to scrape all food off, and rinse quickly if you would like.=)